New York avant-garde luminary Joe Byrd had been the leader of pioneering ’60s electronica band The United States of America until given the heave-ho by his own creation. His riposte was to create this in turns beguiling and bizarre album,…
View More Joe Byrd And The Field Hippies – The American Metaphysical Circus
There is such a thing as good modern pop…no, really, there is. Forget all that autotuned nonsense that dominates braindead mainstream radio, or “hairdresser music” as I call it, and ignore the witless proclamations of a certain self-proclaimed genius, dig…
View More Mothertongue – Unsongs
Given the relatively sparse population of Scandinavia, it seems that everyone living in the land of the Vikings must know someone in a band, such is the vast size and scope of the area’s music scene. In this genre-obsessed world,…
View More Motorpsycho – Here Be Monsters
Grice Peters is a London-based multi-instrumentalist and art rock singer-songwriter who has built himself quite a reputation in left-field pop circles since the 2012 release of his consummate alt-pop debut album Propeller. It helped that he was assisted by a…
View More Grice – Alexandrine
Firstly, an apology: back in November last year Stefano Giannotti, leader of Italian band OTEME sent me this CD, and since the 24th of that month it has sat, still in its shrinkwrap, in my never diminishing “to do” pile.…
View More OTEME – L’Agguato, L’Abbandono, Il Mutamento
The first time I tried slivovitz I was not sure if I had picked up a bottle of paint-thinner by mistake, but after a four year wait it is good to see a new album from the band of the…
View More Slivovitz – All You Can Eat
Big Hogg hail from Glasgow, and as far as I can tell are a relatively new band. Their self-titled debut album came out last summer, and is a fetching mix of styles. The syncopated jazz-pop of opener When We Were…
View More Big Hogg – Big Hogg
Any album that includes a track entitled You’re a Libra…and She’s a Bitch is setting the expectation bar pretty high before the listener has even heard a note. Me? Arachnia, since you asked… . BYOB is the second album from…
View More Ampledeed – BYOB
Prog (adj.) A style of music that contains easily recognisable tropes from the original era of classic progressive rock. If my definition of the genre “Prog” in the 21st century is right – as, of course, it is – then…
View More Homunculus Res – Come si diventa ciò si era
There are some folk who will run many a mile as soon as they espy the word “jazz”, and you would be right to surmise that obviously I am about to make reference to it. “Jazz”, when it comes down…
View More Taylor’s Universe – Across The Universe: An Introduction To Taylor’s Universe